Antennarius monodi
| Antennarius monodi | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Miocene ( Messinian ) | ||||||||||||
| 7.246 to 5.333 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Antennarius monodi | ||||||||||||
| Carnevale & Pietsch , 2006 | ||||||||||||
Antennarius monodi is the first described fossil frogfish (Antennariidae) and comes from the Upper Miocene ( Messinian ). It is said to becloseto the recent species Senegal frogfish ( Fowlerichthys senegalensis ) and belong to the Antennarius ocellatus group (today the genus Fowlerichthys ). According to the first description, it forms the missing link of the genus Antennarius and according to this classification would be the oldest specimen of the genus ever found. The species was named after the French marine zoologist Théodore Monod .
features
The body is short, spherical and compressed at the sides. Based on the jawbone, it is assumed that Antennarius monodi had a large, sloping or almost vertical mouth. The spine is sigmoid and consists of 20 vertebrae, the last vertebra being fused with the large hypural plate , which has a deep notch. The gill cover is triangular and has a deeply incised rear edge. The bones around the gill cover are very similar to those of Antennarius senegalensis . The head, body and fins of the fish are completely covered with closely spaced skin spines.
Antennarius monodi has 13 dorsal and 8 anal fin rays .
Way of life
Based on the morphological description and the sediments and sedimentary rocks found , it is assumed that Antennarius monodi lived near the coast in the tropical Atlantic at a depth of less than 90-100 m on muddy soils.
Location
The holotype and the only find of this kind comes from Raz-el-Ain near Oran in western Algeria and was discovered there in 2005 by Giorgio Carnevale and Theodore W. Pietsch . It is now in the French Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris (MNHN ORA388).
literature
- G. Carnevale, TW Pietsch: Filling the gap: a fossil frogfisch, genus Antennarius (Teleostei, Lophiiformes, Antennariidae), from the Miocene of Algeria . Journal of Zoology 270 (2006) pp. 448-457. PDF; 530 kB